How to get rid of termites without killing themA few months ago, my house was infested with termites in one of the bedrooms on the ceiling. My father didn't want to kill them or ask an exterminator to get rid of them since we believe that killing any kind of living creature despite how small they are would be a sin.

So every time there was a new hole, my father would paste tape over it. Finally, without much improvement since there seem to be more and more holes each week, my father decided to use a different approach.

This time, he decided to use one of Venerable Master Hsuan Hua's teaching about allowing living creatures listen to the Great Compassionate Heart Dharani, which is a mantra use for protection and purification to ask the termites to stop their infestation and leave to another place for feeding.

A few days after playing the mantra repeatedly in the room and requesting the termites to leave. We started seeing the holes moving toward the other end of the wooden board in the ceiling (in a straight line).

A week or two afterwards, there were no more tiny holes seen and it seems as if they have completely disappeared.

Then one day, when my father was in the backyard, he noticed a small hole in the wooden fence with scraps of wood falling out from it. The location of this small hole was exactly in the same straight line as the previous holes in the room.

Apparently, the termites have fled from our house to infest the wooden fence.Though this result might not be much to some, but we are very happy are living outside of the house then inside.

Thoughts: There are perhaps three reasons for this strange phenomena that I can think of.

1. From a spiritual view, the mantra had a significant impact on the termites and with this belief, mostly any request is possible.

2. From a scientific view, the sound, rhythm, pitch of the mantra may have effect the termites to seek somewhere quieter.

3. Another explanation might be that the termites wanted to feed off of something different.

For us Theravada Buddhists, you could try the Ahina Sutta at AN 4.67. You're cultivating loving-kindness and potentially removing your termites! Win-Win.

Here's this paragraph from Ven. Thanissaro that further lends credence to the power of metta.

Ajaan Fuang, my teacher, once discovered that a snake had moved into his room. Every time he entered the room, he saw it slip into a narrow space behind a storage cabinet. And even though he tried leaving the door to the room open during the daytime, the snake wasn't willing to leave. So for three days they lived together. He was very careful not to startle the snake or make it feel threatened by his presence. But finally on the evening of the third day, as he was sitting in meditation, he addressed the snake quietly in his mind. He said, "Look, it's not that I don't like you. I don't have any bad feelings for you. But our minds work in different ways. It'd be very easy for there to be a misunderstanding between us. Now, there are lots of places out in the woods where you can live without the uneasiness of living with me." And as he sat there spreading thoughts of metta to the snake, the snake left.